Ask yourself this:

In a one-dimensional existence, if you were a line, what would a square look like to you as it passed through your existence over time? Another line, right?

In a two-dimensional existence, if you were a square, what would a cube look like to you as it passed through your existence over time? Another square, right?

In a three-dimensional existence, if you were a cube, what would a tesseract look like to you as it passed through your existence over time? Another cube...

Time is the common element here. It defines the passage of an object through its plane of existence. A fourth-dimensional object contains all the aspects of its three-dimensional representations over time. If you try to define that fourth-dimensional object at a specific frame in time in three-dimensional existence, it becomes a three dimensional representation of the fourth dimensional object.

Now, what if what we refer to as "God' has an unmitigated perspective on our fourth-dimensional objects? God is able to observe all our aspects and the choices we make throughout our three-dimensional existence. This isn't as much predestination as it is omniscience. We still have free will to make the choice, but God knows the choice we make.

It does make me curious, though. What does a fourth-dimensional human actually looks like?

And can you run ECC memory on that Q6600? I know not everyone has to do this, but when you are talking about workstation-level tolerance, ECC memory becomes important, and to find that in the Intel world, you have to step up to Xeon processors and mainboards, which are much pricier.

On the other hand, with standard off-the-shelf Athlon II, Phenom II and BD processors, I can use ECC memory (depending on the mainboard, of course) and get workstation-level memory tolerance.

Again, I give you the caveat that not everyone has this requirement, but it sure is nice for those of us who want workstations without having to buy server parts.

They say the first thing to go is your memory and the second...well, dammit, I keep forgetting the second...

Considering what happened during the French Revolution, the current Powers-That-Be has good reason to fear the French people. They stormed the Bastille once, and celebrate it every year just to remind the government that they aren't afraid to do it again.

That, and the French people weren't afraid to invent and use the guillotine.

1) Sandy Bridge is on its second generation. It inherits from the long line of progression from the Core legacy and has done very well considering the amount of money that Intel has pumped into developing these processors. To say that these chips are very mature would be an understatement.

2) AMD has invested a fraction of the R&D expense that Intel has sunk into developing SB/Core architecture when comparing it to BD development. On top of that, BD is in its infancy and is exploring new paths to try and gain efficiencies. I think BD developers need to be proud of their accomplishment, even if it doesn't quite match up clock-for-clock against SB. As the design for these processors matures, and AMD releases a few more Steppings, we will probably see improvements in power usage and performance.

3) As this was a new model, none of the OS kernels out today use these processors in the most optimal way. As the architecture matures, I'm sure that the OS developers will redevelop thread initiation and assignment to make better use of BD's assets. This in itself will net better performance even without improvements in the overall design.

You might think I am just rooting for the underdog, but as a consumer, so should you. Without AMD to keep Intel on it's toes in the X86 market, we will eventually see new chips from Intel that are nothing more than speedbumps, but at prices that will make it difficult for anyone to afford. Intel still prices competitively where AMD still has alternative product, but look at where AMD has not kit to compete. Intel will price there accordingly, because they can. No competition means that the price will float as high as demand.

I try to alternate my personal machines. One year, I will buy AMD, while the next, I will buy Intel. For one machine, I may buy NVidia graphic cards, while another will use AMD. The home media server in the closet is due for an upgrade. I went with an Intel Xeon build three years ago. This time, I will build it with BD Opterons. Do you think anyone besides me will notice the difference, unless I told them? Probably not.

If....if...if...you have access to the source code, have software vendors working (or willing to work) on a recompile, or an in-house development team who is familiar with ARM architecture, to include best practices to get the highest performance. This is the Achilles' heel, really. You toss a stone and you will hit a halfway-competent developer who understands X86...not so easy with any of the RISC architectures, and to find efficient coders working with ARM processors, you are going to have to go shopping in the mobile development market. Most businesses are conservative anyway, and won't take the extra effort or spend the extra money to switch operating platforms, especially if the ARM architecture only offers lukewarm benefits compared to staying with tried-and-true X86.

I remember a story from my childhood. One of the local grocery stores was going through the pains of unionization of the workers. The management was fighting hard to keep the staff from forming or joining a union. All it took was a chance conversation between one of the guys unloading trucks at the docks with one of the truck drivers (who all happened to be Teamsters), and all the sudden, truckers stopped taking deliveries to this particular chain of stores. Independent truckers were willing to do it, but only for 2-3 times the previous rate. In the end, the management went ahead with the unionization and things have been quiet since.

How is it that countries like Sweden, Norway, Germany and Finland are consistently at the top of average pay per worker, yet you have companies clamoring to expand their workforce in these countries? All four of these countries reinvest heavily into their population, in the form of free higher education, universal health coverage and collective bargaining protection.

Germany has always been an economic powerhouse, yet at the same time, has also always been one of the most socialist countries in the world (one could argue that it was the birthplace of the modern socialist movement). Even their professional workers (lawyers, engineers, architects, IT workers, programmers, etc.) have their own trade organizations that enforces individual rights and standards. What in their society has allowed their corporations to work closely with unions and still maintain a responsive and reliable workforce? I thought union created lazy workers, and the only way you can keep workers efficient is to constantly threaten their livelihood?

I have friends who work over there, and they are horrified at some of the corporate hi-jinks I have relayed to them that are SOP here in the US, such as mandatory overtime, canceled vacations, use-it-or-lose-it vacation and sick time, let alone average workweek schedules. My friend Rolf, for instance, had to get special dispensation from his local trade representative in order to work through a regular-scheduled holiday so his company could meet a contract requirement for getting a product to market, and even then, the trade representative not only required that Rolf get paid double his usual rate, but that he was also to take time off to make up for the missed holiday after the work was completed. And his company had to abide by that decision. Yet still his company remains one of the most profitable in their industry, even with all the additional union restrictions on worker time and pay.

What a lot of folks here aren't taking into account is the fact that the whole collegiate education system will be turned entirely on its ear in the next few decades. In fact, we are seeing the nascent stages of this already happening with the wider dissemination of knowledge via the internet. For instance, if I want to learn how to start programming, I can pool enough information from a variety of Google searches to cover about 3 semesters worth of programming courses. For a nominal fee (nowhere near what I would pay for a single course over a semester, let alone for a single lecture) I can take that acquired knowledge and turn it into a certification that translates into a real wage increase, or at least a chance at opening a door.

To be honest, I have picked up more knowledge since leaving college than I acquired in college. Did college give me a framework to learn this new knowledge? Not really. For instance, I spent the majority of my college career planning to be a graphic artist, but using techniques before the advent of computers. I used computers all through college, but they were for writing term papers or to look up course materials and email, and, of course, a few games from time to time, but never really for graphic design.

But my entire industry was turned on its ear by the advent of computers, so much so that by the time I graduated, I had discovered that no one out there was hiring folks with traditional training, but they were paying top dollar for experienced artists who could work in Photoshop and Illustrator. So, over the course of two weeks, I went through a crash course to learn both programs, and landed my first job out of college working for an advertising agency. I kept that job for about 2 months until my paycheck bounced (a reality-check for me, since nowhere in my college career did they cover this part of the work) and then I moved on to bigger and better pastures.

Ever since then, there has been that temptation to go back to school. But each time, when I have been faced with new crossroads in my career, instead of going back to school, I have instead knuckled down, picked up the right material to learn and then picked up the certification as a matter of due course. I taught myself through most of my programming and development experience this way, picking up C++, HTML, Perl, Java, SQL and several other languages. I even went so far as to tie in my graphic design background and now spend a large amount of my time doing UI design.

To be honest, the last time I spent time in a classroom was over 20 years ago, and the last student loan I paid off was about 15 years ago. But I feel that I am constantly learning and refining the knowledge I already possess. I guess this is the true definition of "professional." My next "re-invention" will be to move into game programming and design. I fully expect that I will do well considering my design experience, programming experience, as well as my background in UI design. Is this going to be a paying gig? Probably not, since I make more than enough money at my day job. Is it going to be fun? You bet it is!

Icons on a grid? Lisa, circa 1983. Macintosh, circa 1983-84.

On-screen keyboard? Desk Accessory circa 1985 on Macintosh OS, which allowed you to use an on-screen keyboard controlled by the mouse.

Multipoint touch gestures? FingerWorks (a company acquired by Apple) was the pioneer in multipoint "gesture" recognition, going back circa 1998. Both of the founders of FingerWorks continue to work for Apple (AFAIK), developing technologies that are used in the iPhone and MacBook trackpads today.

Apple even developed an entire OS centered around a tablet computer (the Newton), which predated Palm by about 10 years.

Apple may have stood on the shoulders of some giants, but they got where they are by all means legitimate.